United States – The first home energy solutions made from ocean plastics have been unveiled by Schneider Electric.
Merten’s market-leading range of sockets and switches are made from recycled ocean material and delivered in environmentally friendly packaging, removing non-recyclable materials and enabling customers to move closer to their net-zero goals. Schneider Electric is the first company in the industry to offer Home Energy solutions made from upcycled ocean plastic, which will make its debut at CES 2022.
New models in Schneider Electric’s Merten line are made from polyamide fishing nets collected in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Around 10% of the plastic waste in our oceans comes from abandoned or lost fishing equipment. The new Merten ocean plastic models help to reduce the 640,000 tons of fishing nets that are dumped in the ocean each year and are the first step toward making this product line more sustainable.
Sustainable Partnership
Schneider Electric and DSM collaborated to turn fishing net waste into high-grade technical plastic for use in electrical devices. DSM works with a number of Indian communities to recover and collect discarded fishing nets, which benefits both the local economy and the environment.
Before being sent to DSM to be processed into Akulon Repurposed compound, the abandoned fishing nets are cut up, cleaned, extruded, and inspected for quality. This new compound has an 82 percent lower carbon footprint than traditional Nylon 6, which is used in similar products, lowering the risk of global warming, air acidification, and photochemical Ozone formation during the manufacturing process.
In order to meet all necessary electrical safety requirements and standards, the final material also contains 15% glass fiber to make products more durable, resilient, and long-lasting.
Schneider Electric has revamped its product packaging to further enhance its sustainability commitments, removing all single-use plastic and non-recyclable materials from the packaging process.
